Where Jesus Wants Us to Be
“Immediately the boat arrived at their destination” John 6:16-21 NIV
Intro: “Be Thou My Vision, O Lord of My Heart.” The words to this hymn have been replaying in my heart this week as I planned for today’s sermon. I have tried to live these words out all of my life.
That Christ is my vision. That Christ will be my light and my guide.
Ann Sullivan approached her deaf and blind student Helen Keller saying,
“Today I am going to teach you about God.”
Ms. Keller signed back, “Good, I have been thinking about Him for a long time.”
We move toward the things that we can see.
Even when we can’t see our natural eyes
But toward the things we can see with our spiritual eyes.
Somewhere in the depths of your soul,
somewhere deep, deep, deep in your life is your hunger to see God.
Today we are going to talk about “Where Jesus Wants Us to Be.”
I. Pay Attention to God’s Whispers
A young man had lost his job and didn’t know which way to turn.
So he went to see an old preacher.
Pacing back and forth in the preacher’s study, the young man ranted on about his problem.
Finally he clenched his fist and shouted, "I’ve begged God to say something to help me.
Tell me, Preacher, why doesn’t God answer?"
The old preacher, who sat across the room, spoke something in reply
-- something so hushed it was indistinguishable.
The young man stepped across the room.
"What did you say?" he asked.
The preacher repeated himself, but again in a tone as soft as a whisper.
So the young man moved closer until he was leaning on the preacher’s chair.
"Sorry," he said. "I still didn’t hear you."
With their heads bent close together, the preacher spoke once more.
"God sometimes whispers, so we will move closer to hear Him."
WE ALL WISH THAT GOD WOULD SPEAK TO US LOUDLY AND CLEARLY.
We all want God’s voice to thunder through the air with the answer to our problem.
“Elijah replied, “I’ve been very passionate for the Lord God of heavenly forces
because the Israelites have abandoned your covenant.
They have torn down your altars,
and they have murdered your prophets with the sword.
I’m the only one left, and now they want to take my life too!” 10
The Lord said, “Go out and stand at the mountain before the Lord. The Lord is passing by.” 11
A very strong wind tore through the mountains and broke apart the stones before the Lord.
But the Lord wasn’t in the wind.
After the wind, there was an earthquake.
But the Lord wasn’t in the earthquake.
12 After the earthquake, there was a fire.
But the Lord wasn’t in the fire.
After the fire, there was a sound.
There came a gentle whisper.
Elijah knew that the sound of gentle whisper was God’s voice.
He realized that God doesn’t always reveal himself through only powerful, miraculous ways.
To look for God only in something big: rallies, revivals, concerts, charismatic leaders,
may be to miss out on seeing God,
because God is often found gently whispering in the quietness of a humbled and broken heart.
Are you listening for God?
Step back from the noise and activities and busyness of life,
Listen for the quiet and gentle words of God.
It may come when you least expect it.
Listening-paying attention-to God’s whispers in our hearts
Listening reminds us that God is active in our lives.
Writing down prayers, thoughts, questions, longings and hopes about your faith.
It is sometimes easy to know where we don’t want to be.
1. I don’t’ want to be in a bad relationship
2. I don’t want to be in financial crisis
3. I don’t want to be in a dead end job
4. I don’t want to be cast out, lonely, abandoned, neglected, forgotten.
5. I don’t want to be lost and heading toward the flames of hell.
It is easy to know where I don’t want to be.
Even when our past was good, we don’t want to just live in the past.
We cannot just recreate where we were
and say o.k. we will be satisfied with if things just go back to where they were.
Not just where we were But where God want us to live in the here and now.
Instead of living on Christ of our past
Living on Christ alive in me today.
I believe he would say, don’t walk with the vision, run with the vision.
Let me encourage you to accept your responsibility to protect and promote the unity of your church.
Put your full effort into it and God will be pleased.
It will not always be easy.
Where does Jesus want us to be?
1. Set our house in order
2. Put giving and paying the monthly operating expenses to where we can be strong enough to be healthy
3. Take care of business.
4. Not have a electric bill that runs a month past due.
5. Not have a water fountain that has been broke for month
6. Not have a light fixtures that don’t have back-ups when power goes out.
7. Yes, we help hundreds of others, but I believe God is whispering.
Let repair the temple.
Let build a reserve for emergency needs.
Stop living week to week financially
Let catch up on the $25,000 in outstanding invoices and build a three month reserve in General Fund
Let fundraise and plan for a balloon payment to reduce the debt on the family life center.
Lets increase giving to hire a part-time youth ministry to coordinate
I would like to see a choir director.
Strategy to bring all of the current ministries together under the umbrella of the church.
To be on the same page.
Good Communication.
(not to control but to work together collaboratively.)
II. Discover Your Personal Mission Field
“just as the Son of Man did not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Matthew 20:28 NIV
What does your Personal Mission Field look like?
• There are many churches that were once strong at some point and then pretty much fell apart.
Wounded laborers.
(some leaders need to be ministered to)
While others want to serve but have been afraid to ask.
(Open up the circle!!! Enlarge the tent.
Called to be servants
Ministry in the community
Ministry in the world
• Stewardship Seven years ago
• for the first time was not able to give all of the Connection Mission Benevolence.
Broke the hearts of many people on finance.
Community Church----But also an International Church.
Missions around town.
Mission around the world.
$22,7050
God’s vision relates to things that matter to us.
Vision drives us closer to God. Closer to understanding, closer to seeing, closer for strength.
As a servant of the God of vision, what will you do to fulfill God’s vision for your life?
How will you invest yourself in the mission field God has set before you?
How many of you remember “Happy Days”
The iconic "Happy Days" star Henry Winkler -- now a grandfather at age 68 -- has transformed himself into a children's book author by writing the popular
Hank Zipzer children's book series about the misadventures of a boy who has dyslexia, just like Winkler.
III. Celebrate Faithfulness
“Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” Revelations 2:10 KJV
Great Church!
Work together.
34 Ministry Events/Programs/ others
Vision is the ability to understand the history of the past,
the condition of the present condition,
and the potential of the future church.
And then to have a plan and strategy for action for moving forward.
Vision always entails progress: it is never satisfied with the status quo.
Cell phone maker Nokia started off selling rubber boots.
The oil giant Shell used to import and sell actual shells.
These companies adapted with the times,
evolving their product lines and business strategies
to stay one step ahead of their customers' needs.
Remain Faithful. Stay the Course.
August 23 Ministry Coordinator Appreciation Luncheon
September 20th Organizational Prayer Meeting to Restart Sunday Evening October 11th
There is nothing you set your and mind to that you haven’t accomplished.
Closing: Babe Ruth is one of the greatest baseball players who ever lived.
His career span 1914-1935 with the Red Sox, the Yankees and the Braves
with 20 season wins and 714 home runs.
Before the days of television the radio announcer would create a vision of the play.
The “Babe” is up to bat.
The pitch is down the middle.
The ball has been hit well.
It is heading toward the fence.
The right fielder is going back, back, back to the wall.
The crowd is standing on its feet.
The fielder jumps, it’s over the fence.
It is another homerun for the Babe.
We could talk about Basketball, Golf or NASCAR.
The Super Bowl or the Kentucky Derby.
Whatever your passion is
The church and God’s people go through much the same thing when it comes face to face with God’s vision of “Where Jesus Wants Us to Be.”
Especially when a new pastor comes along.
A man complained to his pastor, “This whole Christian thing is just one continuous ‘Give, Give, Give.’
The pastor replied, “Wow! I can’t thank you enough.
That’s one of the best definitions of Christianity I have ever heard—‘give, give, give continuously’”
A Godly vision is right for the times, right for the church, and right for the people.
A Godly vision encourages faith rather than fear.
A Godly vision motivates people to action.
A Godly vision requires some risk-taking.
A Godly vision glorifies God and the Kingdom, not people.
It is not so much about discovering where Jesus wants us to go
as much as it is willingness to get into the boat and trusting Jesus to get us there.
Vision casting: Is communicating the picture of God’s preferred future.
Vision casting: Is the capacity to create a picture that inspires people to respond;
that which could be, that which should be; that is “Where Jesus Wants Us to Be.
Listen to God’s Whispers
Discover your personal Mission Field
Celebrate Faithfulness.
